Distrust
by Gamma Orionis
Summary: "You-Know-Who would want us to be suspicious of each other. He would want to drive us apart. We need to trust that everyone here wants his death as much as everyone else." Written for Paintball for Camp Potter


Author's Notes: Written for the third Paintball assignment for Camp Potter – _write a fic about the first Order of the Phoenix and the war_.

)O(

The Potter's parlour was a dismal place to spend long winter evenings, but there were no other places for Alice, Frank, Remus or Sirius to go. The regular meeting places of the Order of the Phoenix were to be used strictly for official gatherings, and no one felt brave enough anymore to meet in a public place. So they sat around glowing embers late into the night and tried to act as though they weren't in the most miserable situation possible.

"Have a drink," Sirius said bleakly, conjuring wine glasses and a bottle. "It'll do us all good."

Alice put her hand on the curve of her belly. "I shouldn't… my baby…"

"Go on, Alice, a few sips won't hurt you or the child," Lily said gently, pouring a glass for herself and then offering her the bottle. "God knows that we've earned the privilege…"

"Go on, Alice," Frank echoed. He took the bottle from Lily and splashed a little into a wine glass, then handed it to his wife, letting his fingers linger on her wrist when she reluctantly took it. She looked at him, her dark eyes brimming with tears.

"When will it end?" she asked, looking from her husband to Lily and James, resting against each other in the love seat with James' hand on Lily's swollen belly, then to Remus and Sirius, who shared the only other armchair in the Potters' parlour. Remus gave a hopeless little half-shrug and Lily only looked down, but Sirius's lips pressed into a firm line.

"It will end when You-Know-Who is dead and his Death Eaters along with him. If you ask me, the Ministry isn't putting half enough effort into tracking them down. Spare them the benefit of the doubt, I say. See a Mark on their arm and kill them on the spot. It's the only way we'll make any progress."

Alice straightened up, and Frank noticed her hand tightening on the stem of her glass. "There's no need to be cruel."

"No need to be cruel? Has pregnancy turned your head?" Sirius demanded. "Do you think the Death Eaters are sitting around in their parlours talking about how they shouldn't be cruel to _us_?"

"I suppose not," Alice said, her voice quivering slightly. "But there's no need to sink to their level…"

"There's need if you want your child to grow up in a world where he doesn't have to fear for his life just because his parents did the right thing! Is that the life you want for your baby?"

"Sirius," Lily admonished, raising her head from James' shoulder. "Of course that isn't what Alice wants. But we shouldn't be hasty with people's lives. There are people who were Death Eaters who have turned back to us…"

"Who do you know who was a Death Eater and turned back to us?" James asked. His hand went still on her shoulder, where he had been gently stroking her.

"No one," said Lily, perhaps a touch too quickly. "But Dumbledore says so, and if we can't trust him, we can't trust anyone."

"I thought it was assumed that we can't trust anyone." Sirius took the bottle and splashed some wine into his glass, his eyes sweeping around the room. There was a pause, and everyone felt a vague but disquieting sense of unease as the looked around, wondering who among the group could kill them if they wanted to.

It was Remus who broke the silence, speaking quietly and in a measured voice, looking down instead of meeting anyone's eyes.

"You-Know-Who would want us to be suspicious of each other. He would want to drive us apart. We need to trust that everyone here wants his death as much as everyone else."

"Quite," Frank spoke up, keeping his eyes on his wife, who he thought looked a little pale and uneasy. "None of us would disagree that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named needs to be killed, would we?"

There was a murmur of ascent.

"But the Death Eaters," Alice spoke up, "I expect some of them are only afraid… they don't- can't all believe what they're doing is right… can't all want it…"

"And why do you say that?" Frank asked sharply. "We all want to fight for the Order of the Phoenix, don't we? Why shouldn't we assume that they all want to fight for the Death Eaters? Look at them, they all _love_ having that power and killing and tor–"

"I'm sure Alice's reasons are moral," said Lily firmly, cutting Frank off mid-word. "It isn't as though she could have any _personal_ reasons for having sympathy for the Death Eaters. Could you, Alice? It's all theoretical, all principles, isn't it?"

There was a brief silence, and then Alice mumbled, "Yes, of course."

_Lies_, Frank thought.

But he said nothing, because even if he did distrust his wife, he didn't dare voice his suspicions in front of their friends. Remus was right in saying that Voldemort would want them to be suspicious of each other. Frank didn't want to be the one to prove Remus' point.

)O(

_Fin_


End file.
